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speakers for a smaller listening room

I recently moved and managed to get a dedicated listening room (yay!), but its a little on the small side at 12 x11 feet. My current speakers are B&W CDM 9NT's, purchased when they were for a much larger room. Do i stand much chance of getting these to work well in a room this size? I currently have them 3 ft from the back wall, and about 2ft from the side walls, with the chair about 1ft from the back wall. The bass is pretty lumpy, and there's a lot of HF echo/clatter, i have some traps on the way to try and tame things, but are there any fundamental issues that would prevent a floor stander of that size working in such a small room? Any suggestions on position changes?

Thanks
Simon
zak42
rrog
1,958 posts
 
Bob_reynolds, I disagree with this statement.

"The size of your speakers in your new room only means that you won't have to drive them as hard to get the same SPL."

One of the main problems Zak42 mentioned is "lumpy" bass, an indication the room is too small for his speakers, not to mention in a room that size a tower speaker itself becomes a reflective surface that must be dealt with. This speaker is more suited for a medium size (15'x20') room.

By going with a stand mounted monitor speaker several problems will be solved at once and if a speaker designed to be used close to the wall behind it is selected it will be even better.

Side wall or back wall reflections are an easy fix.
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Zak42, I face the same issue of a small room. My room is 10 x 13 x 8. I was fortunate to have a pair of LSA1 Statements that I bought before having this small room. I bought them as I simply found them amazing at a RMAF. Even they can overload my room if I push them too hard. The Statement model has much better bass than the less expensive models and sounds very good throughout.

I still love to come back to my large listening room, but the LSAs are satisfying.

Incidentally, I have found that the Synergistic Research ART Basiks (two sets) can be of great benefit in the small room.
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
go nearfield with the b&w's...you're cool.
Post removed 
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
My system has been in a similar sized room (11X13) for a few years now and I love the sound. It took some time working with proper treatment but it can be done. Absorption at first reflection points, corner traps and some treatment behind your listening chair are most important IMO.
While you can probably make it work with your B&Ws, smaller speakers would be more manageable. I have a pair of small floorstand speakers as well as a pair of monitors which I swap out every few months to keep things interesting. The small room can be overloaded if I push it but that's not what I enjoy anyway. Click on my system page for a look and good luck.
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